KARACHI, April 22: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a dull note as both sellers and buyers remained locked in a battle of nerves to get an upper hand but it seems to be a no-win situation.

Unlike the previous sessions, ginners appear to be a bit confident about the future price outlook and did not lower their asking prices despite the fact that some of the spinners were not inclined to make fresh commitments.

The recent rise in polyester prices to Rs59.00 per kilo, second within a couple of weeks has a negative impact on the export competitiveness of spinners and they think twice before buying at the higher prices, floor brokers said.

“Spinners’ chief worry is how to remain competitive both on the local and the world markets after absorbing the recent increase in polyester prices and its impact on the yarn and cloth,” they add.

Polyester fibre is not widely used by the textile sector to cater to the rising demand of the blended fabrics, notably on the world markets but a sharp increase to Rs59 from Rs52 in the recent past has spinners in a difficult position.

Local polyester fibre producers including Dewan Salman, ICI Pakistan and some others attribute the increase to higher cost of the imported material used in it because of closure of some major units in the foreign countries.

There is some rethinking in the textile sector whether or not to go for further imports of lint from the world markets in the backdrop of the recent decline in prices, dealers said.

Meanwhile, 0.94m bales have been physically shipped to foreign countries against the total sales of 0.123m bales up to April 19, indicating that shipment deadlines are being met.

Out of the total private sector exporters have 89,851 bales, including 8,901 bales of the old crop and 4,000 bales by the TCP.

TCP has intimated to the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) that it has purchased another 100 bales of export quality cotton from a Punjab ginner at Rs1,855 per maund. The TCP total purchases so far is close to 0.400m bales.

Owing to slack ready business, there was no change in the official spot rates, which were quoted at the weekend level.

Ready offtake was light as till late in the evening a deal of 1,500 bales from Bahawalpur was reported at Rs1,700 per maund.